The Ministry of Economy’s Construction Implementation Unit and the Fiji Tenders Board have been recommended to be involved in the consultation process of every major municipal council project.
While presenting the Auditor-General’s Audit Report on 11 municipal councils for 2019 and 2020, Standing Committee on Public Accounts chairman Alvick Maharaj said this was to avoid major defects that were reflected in past projects.
“The committee knows that there are general audit issues in 11 municipal councils that are as follows; substantial variances in cash has been found in all councils, record keeping is very inadequate, which results in discrepancies in financial statements, credibility of the contractors and engineers are not checked before projects are handed over to the,” he said.
“This result in delays in projects in some instance major defect has also been identified.
“The Public Accounts Committee highly recommended the CIU (Construction Implementation Unit) for the Ministry of Economy and the Fiji Tenders Board to be consulted in future for guidance during capital project.
“The Ministry of Local Government also needs to work closely with the Fiji Tenders Board to develop appropriate policies, guidelines and procedures that must be followed by councils for tender processes.”
He said the hiring of qualified personnel by municipal councils was also highly recommended, and uniform software compatible to the software data developed under digitalFiji program was to be used by all municipalities.
Municipalities that do not have strategic plan must work towards developing one, he said.
